This invention relates to data and information communication within an automobile and particularly to automotive mirror assemblies adapted to communicate wirelessly with other vehicular accessories and/or with personal accessories of occupants of the vehicle.
A vehicle may have features and/or accessories connected by a variety of wireless links and/or wired links, such as are described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/820,013, filed on Mar. 28, 2001, by Drummond et al., for a DIGITAL ELECTROCHROMIC CIRCUIT WITH A VEHICLE NETWORK, which claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/196,577, filed on Mar. 31, 2000, by Lynam et al., for a DIGITAL ELECTROCHROMIC CIRCUIT WITH A VEHICLE NETWORK SUCH AS A CAR AREA NETWORK OR A LOCAL INTERCONNECT NETWORK, and Ser. No. 09/513,941, filed on Feb. 28, 2000, by Schofield et al., for a TIRE INFLATION ASSISTANCE MONITORING SYSTEM, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. For example, some vehicle features, accessories and functions can be interconnected by and/or can communicate by wire connection, by wireless infrared communication, wireless microwave communication, by wireless RF communication, or by any combination of the above.
As described also in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/793,002, filed on Feb. 26, 2001, by Schofield et al., for VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS INCORPORATING AN ACCESSORY MODULE, which relates to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/263,680, filed on Jan. 23, 2001, by Lynam et al., entitled VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS INCORPORATING AN ACCESSORY MODULE, U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/243,986, filed on Oct. 27, 2000, by Lynam et al., entitled VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS INCORPORATING AN ACCESSORY MODULE, U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/238,483, filed on Oct. 6, 2000, by Lynam et al., entitled VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS, U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/237,077, filed on Sep. 30, 2000, by Lynam et al., entitled VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS, U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/234,412, filed on Sep. 21, 2000, by Lynam et al., entitled VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS, U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/218,336, filed on Jul. 14, 2000, by Lynam et al., entitled INTERIOR REARVIEW MIRROR ASSEMBLY INCORPORATING A VIDEO SCREEN, and U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/186,520, filed on Mar. 2, 2000, by Lynam et al., for an INTERIOR REARVIEW MIRROR ASSEMBLY INCORPORATING A VIDEO SCREEN, and in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,000,823 and 5,959,367, all of the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, the vehicle and particularly the interior/exterior mirror assembly can host a variety of features and accessories. Also, such features and accessories can be connected via cable elements, such as coaxial cable, a multi-ribbon cable, a multiwire cable, and/or a fiber-optic cable (for communicating by optical method), or can be connected without wires, such as by short range RF wireless communication such as provided by Motorola, Schaumberg, Ill. via their BLUETOOTH protocol or by infrared wireless communication such as provided via the IrDA protocol available from Clarinet System Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
The present invention is particularly suitable for use in a xe2x80x9cconnected car,xe2x80x9d i.e., an automobile in two-way communication with a remote party such as by a telematic wireless communication link, and most preferably, connected to an information source such as the WorldWide WEB via the INTERNET. This present invention provides compatibility and interoperability for mobile devices, such as hand-held mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) such as a PalmPilot PDA, hand-held personal identifiers, hand-held remote entry devices, such as a key fob as known in the automotive arts including active and passive entry key fobs, and the like.
Accessories may be provided at the purchase of the vehicle as in-vehicle installed items or may be carried in and out of the vehicle by the user. Such can be provided with ports or interfaces adapted to communicate via the use of a cable or wired communication, but more preferably a wireless communication. For example, a modular phone may be equipped with an RF communication link operating under a short-range wireless communication protocol, such as BLUETOOTH available from Motorola of Schaumberg, Ill, that communicates with the vehicle wirelessly so that, for example, telephone communication can be conducted via the audio system of the vehicle while the occupant possessing the BLUETOOTH-equipped phone is using the phone. Likewise, a phone or other mobile device can be equipped with an infrared (IR) communication interface/port such as an IrDA port than can provide wireless infrared connectivity.
A vehicle mirror-based wireless communication system, according to an aspect of the invention, includes an interior rearview mirror assembly including an interior mirror reflective element, a housing for the reflective element, and a mirror-mounted communication device. The mirror-mounted communication device includes a communication data port for short-range communication with a mobile device that is a personal accessory of an occupant of the vehicle. The communication device further includes a telecommunication link from the vehicle to an external provider of information or service. In this manner, the communication device provides connectivity between a low-power mobile device and a provider of information or service separated from the vehicle.
A vehicle mirror-based wireless communication system, according to another aspect of the invention, includes an interior rearview mirror assembly including an interior mirror reflective element and a housing for the reflective element. A remote telematic server is provided that is remote from the vehicle. A vehicular dynamic interactive communication system is provided at the rearview mirror assembly. The communication system includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) for determining a geographic location of the vehicle and a first communication link with the remote telematic server. The mirror-based wireless communication system further includes at least one service provider and a second communication link between the at least one service provider and the telematic server. In this manner, the communication system communicates identification data to the telematic server pertaining to either the location, identity and/or direction heading of the vehicle. The at least one service provider provides assistance data to the vehicle via the first and second communication links. The assistance data is customized to the location identity and/or direction heading of the vehicle.